Samuel Dunlap

June 30, 1998

Samuel Dunlap, 75, created the Crete Bulldogs youth football program 30 years ago as a memorial to his son, Rick, who was killed in a car crash. The program has reached more than 3,000 players and cheerleaders from ages 8 through 15 over the past three decades, and Mr. Dunlap remained active in it until his death Friday in St. Margaret Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Ind. A former high school and college football player at Syracuse University, Mr. Dunlap used the sport as a tool for teaching the youths discipline and sportsmanship. At the time he started the program, there were no youth football programs for public school students in town. "He just loved football, and he loved kids and he wanted to continue on with the kids having the opportunity to participate in athletics and celebrate my brother's life through that memorial," said his son, Randall Dunlap. After moving to Crete from Pennsylvania in 1961, Mr. Dunlap began work for the Calumet Steel Corp., where he worked until he retired in 1985 as vice president of production. He is survived by his wife, Patricia; another son, Russell; two daughters, Elizabeth Dunlap and Alexandra DeVries; a stepson, Todd Aschbrenner; a stepdaughter, Catherine Magnuson; seven grandchildren; four sisters, Josephine Albert, Jean Speer, Elizabeth Thorpe and Rose Ann Lee; and a brother, James. A funeral service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Hirsch Funeral Home, 507 Exchange St., Crete.